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How Willow ended up here is a mystery to me. Pubs aren’t her thing. She sips champagne, does yoga, eats chocolate with fancy-ass names. She flew in for Stella’s crew party, so the only reason I can come up with is, she’s trying to stay away from Stella and Hudson’slovefest.
I lean back in my chair, balancing the neck of my beer bottle between two fingers, and stare at her as she gives the bar a once-over. The pendant light above us shines over her head like a halo when she starts peeling paint off the table. Her weariness surprises me. I’ve always thought of her as a chameleon—someone who adapts to any situation she’s throwninto.
I set my beer bottle down and wipe my sweaty palms against my jeans. “What’s Tinder?”Really? This is what I say to break the ice? It’s all I could thinkof.
My question surprises her, and she lifts her gaze to me. “Tinder?” She scrunches up her face like she didn’t hear mecorrectly.
“Yeah, what is it? Lauren has been up my ass all week, insisting I joinit.”
She laughs, a smile cracking at the side of her lips. “Really? You’ve never heard ofTinder?”
“Trust me, I wouldn’t be sitting here, feeling like an idiot, if I had.” I grab my beer and take a long draw, finishing it off. “Looks like I’m the only one lost on the Tindersubject.”
“It’s a dating app.” She pauses. “Let me correct myself. It’s a booty-call app. Swipe right; swipe left. Let’s bang; let’snot.”
“A booty-call app.” I snort. “It’s sad when your sister cares more about you getting laid than youdo.”
“I seem to have the same problem with everyonebut meworrying about my vagina getting the business.” She laughs again, the sound of it putting me at an unfamiliar ease—something I haven’t felt in a longtime.
I want to hear that laugh again. A woman this beautiful doesn’t deserve to be sitting in the back of a run-down pub with sadness in hereyes.
“Hudson told me about the bullshit your boyfriend pulled,” Isay.
Her ruby-red lips frown, and she runs a nervous hand down her dress. I pinch the bridge of my nose, regretting my words. Bringing up her douche-bag ex isn’t going to get me anotherlaugh.
“Hudson has a big mouth,” she mutters. “Andex-boyfriend.”
“Sorry ’bout that. Hudson told me what yourexdid.”
“What he did was fucked up and the final straw of ourrelationship.”
“Did the kid die?” I pause, the question hitting too close to home. I have a daughter. That could’ve been Maven. I can’t imagine what those parents are goingthrough.
“Fortunately, no. Unfortunately, he has severe brain damage and will never be thesame.”
Fucking jackass.Shows how one stupid decision can impact the lives of others. I only met her ex a handful of times, but I instantly knew he’d never be a friend ofmine.
“Andhim?”
“He’s out on bail, and his trial has been postponed until he completes physicaltherapy.”
“You shittingme?”
She shakes her head. “The perks of being the son of the townmayor.”
“I’m sorry,” Iwhisper.
“It makes me sick that I loved someone who did something thatbad.”
She snatches the drink Lauren ordered her and downs it. My lips slightly turn up when her face twists into something that resemblesdisgust.
She sticks out her tongue and points to the glass, like it’s poison. “Is your sister trying to kill me? What is thisshit?”
“Jameson,” I answer, feeling my lips tilt up again—something they haven’t done with anyone other thanMaven.
She stares at me,blinking.
“Whiskey.”
